


Put A Little Love On Me

by TeaLovingTooru



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Aged-Up Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Break Up, Cuddling & Snuggling, Derogatory Language, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Established Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, First Kiss, Gay Richie Tozier, Gentle Kissing, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Richie Tozier, Insecurity, M/M, Soft Eddie Kaspbrak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24105178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaLovingTooru/pseuds/TeaLovingTooru
Summary: Richie had never been very into the idea of... himself. He hadn't really had any reason to. After all, he was just an annoying asshole, for the most part, so what the hell was the point?
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 5
Kudos: 113





	Put A Little Love On Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [outdatedtozier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/outdatedtozier/gifts).



> For my sunshine, Cat (◕ˇ ◕✿) thank you for the movie dates and introducing me to such culture. I wanted to give something back to you for helping me feel like myself and for never failing to make me smile. You always know just what to say and I admit, I get stupid ass butterflies when I get texts from you, but mayhaps it's because I'm that gay. Who knows, honestly. So this one is for you, beautiful.

Richie was fucking tired. He was tired of people, of things and mostly, he was tired of himself and his big fucking mouth. Seriously. What was his problem? He was starting to think his friends were right about his 'trash mouth', the only difference being that they were joking. He was not. Richie was seriously tired of his mouth and the trouble it got him in literally every day of his life. 

What was currently plaguing him? Hmm. Probably the fact that he had yelled at his boyfriend for literally no reason, because Eddie wouldn't stop asking him if he was ok. Yes, Richard. Yell at the person who single-handedly cares about you more than anyone else in the entire world. Big fucking brain moment. Eddie had kept asking and asking... then he asked some more in the form of very terribly veiled questions like "Well, how was your day?" and "Are you feeling agitated, because I know I sure am!" It was... sweet, but also incredibly frustrating when he didn't want to talk about it. That was the problem though... he knows if he had just said he was having a bad day, Eddie would have dropped it, given him a soft apology for a shitty day and maybe squeezed his hand just a little tighter as they walked. 

However.. Richie had decided that the appropriate reaction to the seventh inquiry of the day that the best thing to do was to yell at him... and then... break up with him. God. He was such a fucking idiot. Like genuinely, what was his problem? 

Eddie wasn't even really being annoying. The concern on his face was evident... the small pout in his lip and the way his eyes would keep falling towards the pavement of the road they walked together every day before and after school after they'd meet or say goodbye at Eddie's house... he was very much aware of the kiss he hadn't been shyly given on the cheek that day after Eddie made sure his psycho mother was indeed not watching him through the window. He'd only started doing it at the beginning of that week... because well... Eddie was shy with the whole thing, which some may find annoying, but Richie couldn't help but find endearing. 

Except for today. It was obvious that Eddie knew he'd been upset. He had no doubt in his mind that Stanley had probably snitched on him and had told Eddie at least some of what had been said... he didn't really know... he didn't even really care. They were done now, because of his stupid ass mouth. Richie truly _adored_ ruining one of the only good things in his life... the best thing in his life. And for what? Because he didn't want to let him in? Because he wanted to hide behind some stupid ass facade of being so incredibly carefree and happy all of the time? Eddie knew him better than that... hell, all of their friends did. Eddie just knew even more. 

So there walked Richie Tozier, aged seventeen and fucking suffering inside, as he walked up the stairs to his bedroom, stopping as he heard a voice call up to him. "Richard... come down here."

He sighed, coming back down the stairs and standing there, leaning against the beam of the wall. "Yes...?"

"Did you think about what we talked about?" His father asked, raising an eyebrow. Richie took in a deep breath. 

"Do you mean did I think about whether or not I would force myself to be straight to appease my family and my nosy ass neighbours who can't mind their business?" He snarked, humming. "Why yes, father, I did. It doesn't matter anymore." He stood then, swallowing as he looked up at the door of his room, continuing his walk. "We broke up. So... congratulations. Gay be gone."

Apparently, the joy his father was feeling at this discovery completely masked the memory of Richie swearing. How utterly fucking fantastic... his own parents celebrating the heartache of their own son. All because he liked boys... well. More because he liked _one_ boy... but he'd gone and ruined that. Maybe it was karma... maybe it was karma for him debating just telling his parents they broke up so they would get off his back about it, but he could keep that precious angel in his life. Because yes. To him, Eddie was something of an actual living angel. Sue him... he was a rather poetic gay considering how much he joked about the things that hurt him. Better believe he'd be joking about this in a few weeks.

_"Aha, yeah. You see that cutie with the inhaler over there? Yeah. That's my first love. I let myself be forced away from him by my shitty, homophobic parents! Haha! How pathetic is that? I know. So... so fucking funny."_

Richie grimaced as he threw himself onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling and the very obnoxious rainbow flag he had stuck up there the last time Eddie had been over... That joke had been funnier when it first passed his mind... except it wasn't a joke. It wasn't a joke, because it was completely true. It was also true that he felt the dread finally settling in, heat rising behind his eyes as his chest shuddered with a breath. He groaned, taking a pillow and smothering himself in it. That made it worse... because he was very much clinging to the scent of Eddie that stuck to them in the form of green apple shampoo... was he seriously crying? Wow. He was such a pussy. 

He allowed himself to cry, because he knew that seriously, he was only human... anybody would be sad in this circumstance. But that was the thing... Richie didn't feel sad. He felt heartbroken and angry... not only at his family, but at himself. He was angry at himself, because he'd let their comments get to him. Until he'd acted out and yelled at the very person he was fighting for, utterly shattering any level of trust that Eddie ad developed in their relationship. 

Richie didn't think he'd ever seen anything as sad as the look Eddie'd had on his face while Richie was screaming at him. He looked shocked... and incredibly hurt. Richie was trying to pretend he hadn't seen the glistening in his eyes that signalled the telltale tears that anybody probably would have shed... Richie had been anything but gentle in his words. He hadn't meant it... he'd not meant a single word that he spoke... except for the part where he'd quite loudly exclaimed that he hated himself... but that didn't matter, because Eddie already knew that... it was the very reason his pillows and bedsheets smelled like green apple shampoo, as opposed to his own scent. 

It had been when he was hanging the flag... the flag Eddie had bought for him and smuggled into the Tozier household inside of a backpack. He remembered it very well... the sun had been setting, soft light filtering in through the window and giving Eddie the damn softest look Richie had ever seen. The light filtering through his hair, caressing his cheekbones and kissing each of his freckles, no matter how faint as they faded with the summer sun... he'd looked beautiful. Richie had made sure to tell him that... Eddie had shyly told him to fuck off as he sat at Richie's desk, running his fingers over the black wood with quotes and signatures written all over it... taken extra care when he'd brushed his finger over the carving in the center, cheeks flushed at the sight of the blatantly obvious _"R + E'_ in the wood... the smile on his face had given Richie butterflies, as stupid as that may sound... he didn't care if he sounded stupid. Hell, _he_ was stupid for ever thinking he was straight when someone as gorgeous as Eddie Kaspbrak lived and breathed on the Earth. He was lucky and he knew it.

He felt even luckier as he stood on top of his bed, thumbtacks in hand as he started hanging up the flag above his bed. The placement had been Bill's suggestion... something about offering himself a constant and nightly reminder of his truth... the reminder that nobody what, nobody could take his truth away from him. At the time, they'd teased Bill for the words, snickering at him as he had simply just shrugged, rolling his eyes with a fond smile. Richie had actually really liked the idea though... he had liked it enough to send Bill a text with a picture of the flag hanging proudly up there. 

He remembered turning towards Eddie with a bright grin when he finally got it stuck up there, the grin falling from his face into something softer when he saw what Eddie was doing. Cheeks flushed, looking down at the desk as his fingertip still brushed over the wood carving... Richie's heart had felt incredibly warm that day. He'd slid off of his bed, walking to the desk and spinning the chair around so Eddie would be facing him, gently pulling him up and humming softly as he pulled him against him for a hug, squeezing him gently as he pressed a soft kiss to the hair on the top of his head. He could see the tip of Eddie's ear turn impossibly red... he felt proud to say he'd caused it. 

When Eddie had pulled away and walked to the bed, gently sitting and patting the spot next to him, Richie himself had felt a little flushed. He'd sat next to him, smiling when Eddie moved just a bit closer at first before apparently he'd decided 'fuck it' and pushed Richie back onto the mattress, burying his face in Richie's chest briefly as he wrapped his arms around him before looking up. 

_"Bill was right... it does look really nice up there, Richie."_ He'd admitted, voice soft and a bit more telling of the kind of mood he was in. He turned his head again, looking right at Richie before he'd moved forward, gently and very shyly pressing his lips to Richie's jaw before immediately hiding his face.

He was lucky... Richie was probably the luckiest guy on the planet and he'd thrown that away... for what? To appease his parents who didn't actually give a fuck about his happiness? Brilliant, Richard. Truly immaculate thought process there, bud. 

He sighed softly as he pulled the pillow away from his face, instead holding it to his chest and hugging it tightly. It wasn't like Eddie at all... Eddie who was all bone and barely any squish... well... not completely true, but somehow Richie knew that if they hadn't even kissed yet, Eddie probably wouldn't be a fan of Richie touching his ass... no matter how cute his ass looked. That thought made Richie laugh... he should have slapped his ass more times... yeah. That would have been nice, even as the boy went bright red and slapped Richie's arm or the back of his head... gotta love a good gay teen romance.

His thoughts were running away from him... some making him laugh... some making the tears well back up and some just making him feel so utterly lost... wishing he could instead be lost in Eddie's eyes for a while. Dammit. He was such a sap. He was turning into fucking Ben. 

_"Why don't you just fuck off, Eddie!? Seriously! Just shut up already! Just fucking shut up! I don't want to talk to you, so just stop asking! You're my boyfriend! Not my fucking husband and you probably never will be, ok!?"_ He winced as he could hear himself yelling at Eddie in his mind... could see those confused doe eyes looking up at him with hurt slowly etching onto his face. It hadn't slowed Richie down at all. _"You wanna know what the hell is wrong with me!? I'll tell you, dammit! I'm a fucking failure! A disappointment! A 'fairy'! I'm not- goddammit, Eddie! Just- fuck! Just leave me alone!"_ He could hear Eddie trying to protest... trying to tell him that none of that was true... trying to calm him down. _"Eddie. Seriously. Let's just... let's just be fucking done, ok? I'm fucking done."_

He swallowed as he remembered the shock on Eddie's face... the way Eddie's eyes had filled up just a little, but he only looked down and quickly rubbed at his eyes before pushing past him and walking, more like running, to his house. Richie Tozier felt like the biggest asshole in the entire world... because he was. He was the worst. Eddie had been worried about him and his wellbeing... Richie had snapped on him... taken out all of his insecurities on him... all just because his father had told him he thought he was just making a mistake... that if he dropped Eddie, he'd see that he wasn't really 'queer'... he'd see that Eddie had just been brainwashing him by pretending to love and care for him. 

Hah. Haha. 

He was definitely crying out of self-pity now, swallowing back choked sobs... if his mother came up and tried to 'comfort' him, he'd probably break something. They were wrong. Eddie did care about him... it was why he hadn't let it go. It was why he hadn't argued back... Eddie wasn't stupid. He knew when Richie was hurting... but Richie had gone too far. He knew it.

So why... why and the hell was Eddie Kaspbrak... the biggest scaredy-cat in the world currently hanging onto the edge of Richie's window, knocking softly so as not to disturb anyone else in the house and get caught. Richie had flown out of bed the second he saw him, quickly opening the window and pulling him inside.  
  
  
"Eddie, what the hell are you doing!?" He said, eyes wide with surprise. Why was everything blurry- oh. He wasn't wearing his glasses. He turned around for a second, grabbing the frames and sliding them onto his face. 

He finally got a good look at Eddie. 

He was wearing those stupid ass shorts... the ones that you only wore if you were a girl or you were on the track team... Richie was pretty sure Eddie was neither, but the first he truly was just a little unsure on. But other than that... he was buried inside of the hoodie that Richie had left him the last time he'd come over. He looked so tiny... well. Ok, in comparison, Eddie really was tiny... but he suddenly looked so... _small._ Richie felt himself swallow, heart-aching slightly and he looked away, rubbing his eyes as though Eddie couldn't see him. 

Eddie didn't comment though, instead moving forward and wrapping his arms tight around Richie, burying his face against his shoulder. "Richie... it's ok..."

Richie bit his lip, looking up and trying not to make any stupid sounds. He did though... which quickly led to him burying his face in Eddie's hair. "N-No, it's not... I'm such a dick, Ed..."

"You're my dick..." Eddie murmured, moving back just a little to look up at him. "It's... listen, it's ok to hurt... how many times have you listened to me cry over my mom being such a basket case...?"

"That's dif-"

"Yeah, you're right... it's different. My mom tries to ostracize me and make me like some little ill child she has to protect..." He said gently, gently gripping Richie's chin so he couldn't look away from him. "You're different, because your parents just... they don't understand you. And I'm sorry... it's not fair. You don't deserve this shit, Rich... you deserve to be surrounded with support and people who love you all the time."

"B-But I am..."

Eddie smiled at that, nodding as he hugged him again, a hand sliding into Richie's hair and he made a soft sound, leaning into that touch. He loved when Eddie played with his hair. "You are."

"I... Eddie, I'm so sorry..."

"Shh. Seriously don't apologize, idiot... I'm not mad. I would have done the same, probably... so just shut up and let me cuddle you."

Richie only nodded as he was dragged over to the bed. It was a mere matter of seconds before they were situated. Eddie's normal spot on his chest was now warm once again with his body weight, but this time, instead of burying his face in Richie's shirt, he looked right at him, expression soft.

"What...?" Richie mumbled, looking at him with a confused expression.

"I really... I'm happy..." He shrugged. "Don't make fun of me, by the way, because I'll kick your ass, but like... I am happy to get to be here for you. It's my job, but like... to _be here._ "

"I'm happy too... I'm happy you're here..." He murmured, cheeks a little flushed as he felt Eddie gently remove his glasses and set them on the bedside table. 

Before he could ask what Eddie was doing, his question was answered silently.

Oh. _Oh._

Laying on top of his chest, a soft smile on his face as he gently grabbed Richie's face... was Eddie... Eddie, who had just pressed their lips together. Eddie... who was kissing him so gently that Richie was questioning if it was really happening... but judging by the incredibly shy expression on his face when he pulled back, it definitely had. It was that same expression that had encouraged him to cup Eddie's face right back... kiss him a little heavier... a little longer... with a lot more love. 

"Hey, Ed...?"

"W-What...?"

"I really, really like you."

Eddie scoffed, cheeks flushed. "Jeez, you fucking loser. Might as well just tell me you love me already."

Eddie had been teasing... Richie knew it... but he couldn't help but oblige, because it was completely true. "Ok, Eddie spaghetti. I really, really love you."

The look on his face was priceless. It was a look that Richie knew would forever be captured in his mind. There was a soft clutching of the fabric of Richie's shirt, before a face pressed into his neck and shyly murmured a reply. "I really, really love you too, you jackass."

"Mm... I'm your jackass."

"Yeah... yeah, you are."


End file.
